Hmmm... definitely some interesting bits here, and a lot of questions raised that will probably be answered over this and the next 37 issues.

Spoiler thingy, just to be safe.

SPOILER! (select to read)So the Council sold/gave away Luna 2. Does that mean it was simply offlimits to Cybertronians while the BBC (interesting, either there's two groups in the galaxy with those initials, or they changed names for some reason) mines it, scraps it, or whatever they're doing with it, or that Luna 2 was literally taken away from Cybertron? And if the latter, then where the hell did the current Luna 2 come from?

Mass recalls of 'unnecessary' classes? So mass culling of parts of the species, I assume. Man, those Functionists were evil SOBs.

So Minimus does, or at least did, have an alt mode. Why do I have a feeling the next page is going to be him getting hassled or locked up by that Functionary.

EDIT: I totally missed them on the first look but holy hell is there a lot of Unicron Trilogy cameos, or themed generics, on that third page.

SPOILER! (select to read)There was something bugging me about that first page, like something was missing, and it was pointed out elsewhere: There's no 'couple of million years ago' yellow text indicating this is a flashback. So with that and the hugely major events that would be the loss of Luna 2 and deportation of knock-offs going unmentioned previously, a theory has emerged that this is actually present day Cybertron after Brainstorm screwed something up in the past.
Seems quite likely, especially with Minimus having not seen Dominus for 2 million years. If this were really a flashback, then it would have to be a good ways pre-war, since Dom and Rewind were off planet at the start, which would mean the Ambuses were contemporaries of Cyclonus, Nova Prime, and all of them, which I don't think has been established before. So yeah, I'm thinking alternate present due to Brainstorm killing a cyberbutterfly by accident. Or Megatron. One of the two.

SPOILER! (select to read)You might be on to something there, Unicron. To my knowledge, the Black Block Consortia is a modern-day thing, the Primal Vanguard was never dissolved and I don't think even the Functionists were quite this evil. Luna 2 was being mined for sparks last we knew and had some kind of ancient cultural significance with intact courtrooms for Megatron's trial... something's up. Way up.

SPOILER! (select to read)Also, what, unseated the Senate? Deported the knock-offs? When did that happen?

Man, looks like the ethics lesson is continuing. Megatron thought that someone else would be the Decepticon figurehead but it might turn out that only he could be the one fit for the job and only a horrible planet-destroying war could make Cybertronians act somewhat civil to each other. Bummer.

As part one of a story there's a lot of set up and exposition here (especially in the "Real" timeline scenes), so this is something that'll probably read a bit better when done all in one go with the following issues.

But dang, there's some good ideas here. A villain trying to change history and making things worse even for them isn't entirely unprecedented (amongst other things it was the basic idea of Back to the Future 2 before the scene of Old Biff being erased from history because Lorraine had shot him during the '90's was cut), but it would still have been far more standard to show Brainstorm's effect simply to be having the Decepticon's win, this is far more interesting.

And hey, there's an actual plot reason for Rewind to be back as his database is going to be the litmus test for whether things are fixed or not!

I'd say Brainstorm is pretty much unambiguously evil isn't he at this stage?

The fate of Dominus was just nasty, and the eye cameras were a really neat piece of proper science fiction (for a while now I've thought there'd be something in that with the way electrical devices are shrinking all the time).

Ironically, as much as the new future is probably worse for all the Transformers, it probably means the rest of the galaxy is a lot better off doesn't it?

I will bet you know Megatron will be the leader of the resistance in the new present (or, if Roberts is being really tricksy, Orion Pax will be and Brainstorm has actually gone back to kill Megatron having decided all their defeats are actually their leader's fault and he's going to take charge using his future knowledge to try and change things).

Oh My. So many ideas buzzing around my head with this. A very good read and hints at what could be a really definitive transformer story. The last few pages with Rewind and the house of Ambus boys was chilling in how much it echoed fears about modern tech and how we willingly let it invade our lives (compulsory "upgrade").

Flawless stuff. Genuinely scary alternate present and great scenes on the Lost Light. I particularly liked the 'last place I expected to find you' scene and the 'grotty fan club' line. Nice bit of unfashionable cartooning with the labels on the Functionist Council table. It's not just Scioli who can get diagrammatical when the situation calls for it.

And among all that is the wrenching but understated bit about Rewind not quite reintegrating with Chromedome and an offer of therapeutic mnemosurgery.

I'm subscribing to Dalek's theory that Megatron was/is Brainstorm's true target on the grounds that it is far more interesting.

It was early on when things were still solidifying, but it strikes me that Rewind in the first issue of MTMTE had a sort of nostalgic, almost warm view of Functionism - he kept his useless alt mode and repeated one of their slogans in a cheerful way. I'd like it if that was intentional - the way people in Russia have fond memories of Stalin and such.

Speaking of which, wasn't 'The Guided Hand' a phrase that Rewind read off the Matrix that only Optimus and Cyclonus knew anything about? Seems like the Functionists had the inside track, or got hold of the Matrix, or that it's more useful and interesting to have a widely shared cultural background rather than a secret history.

Okay. I REALLY want to know what Brainstorm's motivation is, as this alternate new future is pretty freakin' nasty.

Shows how little we know about him. Assuming this is the future he had intended... maybe it isn't. Maybe this is an unintended consequence.

Also on board with Dalek on this one; Megatron seems to be a more likely target (I personally haven't bought into the Stormy being a Decepticon double-agent thing yet). Once more, I'm reminded of Optimus and Megatron's chat in Chaos Theory; without Megatron's uprising, there'd be no Optimus Prime, and thus no Autobots. At least, not as we know them. No Megatron also means there's no one to challenge the (then) status quo. The Functionalists (et al) are left more or less unfettered to evolve into, well, what we see here.

That's how I'm rationalizing it. Makes more sense to me than targeting Orion Pax, at any rate.

**sigh**

Whatever. I'm probably wrong.

Good showing from Rodimus. The focus these last seven issues has been skewed towards Megatron, and while that's not much of a criticism, it's still nice to see more of the old faces again. I guess it's the wait between issues that makes it seem like it's been forever since we've last seen the likes of Rodimus or Magnus.

Speaking of which, I'm starting to like the slightly-more-cynical Ultra Magnus. There's a glimmer of a personality trying to shine through. It looks like he's finally come to terms with life aboard the Lost Light and all that entails.

"Caught in another time paradox, you say? Huh. Must be a Wednesday."

At first I was just as confused as Rodimus and the others were, trying to work out the mechanics of Brainstorn's time machine with the multiple briefcases and... and the colorful technobabblery. Think I'll chalk it up as "magic", too.

Eh, I'm kind of a dunce already, especially when it comes to this sort of thing, so it all sounds plausible to me.

But in all seriousness, the real headscratcher, for me anyway, was how Perceptor came to the conclusion that Brainstorm time jumped. Did I skim past that part?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terome

And among all that is the wrenching but understated bit about Rewind not quite reintegrating with Chromedome and an offer of therapeutic mnemosurgery.

Chromedome hasn't quite given me a reason to doubt his intentions -- or his feelings for Rewind -- but was I the only one that was worried that he might be considering doing more than just erasing ALL Rewind's memories of the DJD?

What an issue! A great view of what Cybertron might have become without Megatron and Optimus to tear the system down.

With the increasingly-grim view we're getting of pre-war Cybertron, though, I really do wonder why any of the NAILs wanted to come home after getting the "war's over!" signal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inflatable dalek

I'd say Brainstorm is pretty much unambiguously evil isn't he at this stage?

Hard to say! We don't know what his motivations are, or what reasons (if any) he had for doing what he's done. We just have speculation from Rodimus and Megatron. We don't even know if he's actually a Decepticon, or if he really tried to kill anyone (if everyone knew that Swerve watered his drinks, well, that everyone included Brainstorm...). It looks bad, but I'm sure we'll think differently of him (for better or worse) once it's all done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inflatable dalek

The fate of Dominus was just nasty, and the eye cameras were a really neat piece of proper science fiction (for a while now I've thought there'd be something in that with the way electrical devices are shrinking all the time).

I've seen the "eye cameras" thing done before, but it really is a perfect fit for Transformers in particular, with their mechanical biology. It also serves to underscore the hypocrisy of the Functionists nicely...they'll happily modify citizens (either like this, or with progressively awful means of Empurata) to suit their own ends, but still crow about how function follows form and your alt-mode defines your existence (even though it is clearly no problem to rebuild Transformers into new alt-modes). It shows nice and clear how not even the Council believes in their rhetoric, and the Taxonomy is nothing but a sham designed to keep the population in line.

Yet again, a great way to capitalize on the Transformers' mechanical nature and tell stories that just wouldn't be possible with humans.

Sidenote: I wonder what the knockoffs (who were lucky enough to merely be deported rather than "obsoleted") are up to in the new timeline. There were tons of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inflatable dalek

Ironically, as much as the new future is probably worse for all the Transformers, it probably means the rest of the galaxy is a lot better off doesn't it?

I don't know about that. The beginning suggests that the Transformers were at war with a large chunk of the civilized galaxy, and that they had to surrender a moon in order to end the conflict. Four million years of the Primal Vanguard running around squashing puny flesh creatures is probably just as bad as four million years of Autobots and Decepticons turning everyone else into collateral damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inflatable dalek

I will bet you know Megatron will be the leader of the resistance in the new present (or, if Roberts is being really tricksy, Orion Pax will be and Brainstorm has actually gone back to kill Megatron having decided all their defeats are actually their leader's fault and he's going to take charge using his future knowledge to try and change things).

Or Brainstorm isn't a Decepticon at all and his crudely-scrawled badge is only an attempt to fit in during the pre-war days so he can get close enough to Megatron to kill him and prevent the war in the first place, which (he thinks) will make the future a better place?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terome

It was early on when things were still solidifying, but it strikes me that Rewind in the first issue of MTMTE had a sort of nostalgic, almost warm view of Functionism - he kept his useless alt mode and repeated one of their slogans in a cheerful way. I'd like it if that was intentional - the way people in Russia have fond memories of Stalin and such.

Wouldn't you be? It may have been oppressive and cruel, especially for those of his class, but at least there was always Energon on the table and his friends weren't constantly being butchered in combat. Safety and comfort will always look pretty good when you're looking back on them from a time of horrible, dangerous freedom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzagger

Good showing from Rodimus. The focus these last seven issues has been skewed towards Megatron, and while that's not much of a criticism, it's still nice to see more of the old faces again. I guess it's the wait between issues that makes it seem like it's been forever since we've last seen the likes of Rodimus or Magnus.

That's because it has been! Between the recent Megatron-focused issues and Dark Cybertron before it, it's been over a year since we've seen Rodimus or Magnus really take centre stage in a MTMTE adventure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzagger

But in all seriousness, the real headscratcher, for me anyway, was how Perceptor came to the conclusion that Brainstorm time jumped. Did I skim past that part?

I missed that too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzagger

Chromedome hasn't quite given me a reason to doubt his intentions -- or his feelings for Rewind -- but was I the only one that was worried that he might be considering doing more than just erasing ALL Rewind's memories of the DJD?

Yeah...I got the feeling that he'd at least consider erasing all of Rewind's memories of his time on the other Lost Light (conveniently getting rid of the "You're not my Chromedome!" complaint) or possibly even rewriting those memories with constructs based on what his Rewind lived through. I don't know if he'd actually do it, but it has to be tempting.

Okay, good. Thought something had went over my head. Mind, I'm game for time travelling shenanigans, but it seemed like a bit of a stretch.

Still, it's the Lost Light. Guess I'll just go along with it.

In a similar vein; while I'm willing to bet there's more to Brainstorm's briefcase than being a component to some convoluted time traveling device (apparently it can also jumble the order of events), how come the Sparkeater, waaaaay back in issue #3, is turned away by it?

Quote:

That's because it has been! Between the recent Megatron-focused issues and Dark Cybertron before it, it's been over a year since we've seen Rodimus or Magnus really take centre stage in a MTMTE adventure.

......

Damn, you're right. Not since Remain in Light have either of them been in the forefront.

I've missed them

But hey, it's all good. If what I'm taking from this issue is true -- that only a handful of folks are in on this time jumping business -- that means we'll have a whole storyline to spend more quality time with Magnus and Rodimus.

Okay, good. Thought something had went over my head. Mind, I'm game for time travelling shenanigans, but it seemed like a bit of a stretch.

Still, it's the Lost Light. Guess I'll just go along with it.

In a similar vein; while I'm willing to bet there's more to Brainstorm's briefcase than being a component to some convoluted time traveling device (apparently it can also jumble the order of events), how come the Sparkeater, waaaaay back in issue #3, is turned away by it?

......

I think Perceptor went to the lab, saw the arrangement of briefcases and did some investigating. I imagine that everybody thought there was only one and that is why its contents and purposes were inscrutable.

As for the sparkeater - remember that Brainstorm has no spark thanks to his contact with Nova Prime's body. Perceptor doesn't know that and says that Brainstorm has linked his briefcase to his spark and only someone who shares his spark-type can follow him. Brainstorm harvested that green spark in Remain In Light so I guess that means only Megatron and Ultra Magnus can go time-jumping.

So was the spark-harvesting a precautionary measure to limit those who could follow him? Was he just messing everyone around by saying the idea of putting the green spark in his briefcase had blown his mind or did he take that as a suggestion?

I took it that when they found the spark field in remain in light and brainstorms mind was blown by the idea of merging the briefcase with the green spark that this idea really came to his plan. I think otherwise he was just bidding his time.

Its possible that brainy isn't evil though. As said, he may have known that the drinks were watered down. Its possible he is aligned to the belief of the decepticon ideal rather then being a straight up bad guy. In the same way thundercracker is a somewhat noble con. Ironic that his plan becomes the cause of even greater repression for cybertronians

Don't forget there's the anti-Megatron cabal on the ship. Maybe Brainstorm isn't, in fact a Decepticon, but is working with them -and naturally, his contribution to the cause would be the most extreme.